Takami Asakura
Takami Asakura (朝倉-高見, Asakura Takami) is a regular human who, like a select range of mankind, was fused with the Nue Yōkai, and thus, contracted the Darkness Symbiote. Appearance Takami appears to be a young girl of pale complexion. She has long, curly black hair, and her eyes are amber, complimented by a light purple eye shadow flaring backwards. Her eyes are slightly titled upwards at the ends, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance. Takami wears a black bow in her hair, which resembles cat ears, making her seem even more feline. She wears black pointed heeled shoes and stockings that start off black at her hips, but gradually fade to purple as they near her shoes. There is a small, white, flame-like marking on the outside of both stockings, indicating affiliation with a group of some sort. There are black wristbands on both of her arms, but she also wears a black detached sleeve with a silver banding on her left arm. Takami wears a black buttoned vest with coattails that exposes part of her midriff, and a white, sleeveless undershirt and white shorts that may be connected to her shirt, although it is partly obscured by the vest. Takami also has a detached scarf-like collar around her neck. Personality and Traits Takami is a very quiet individual; that is to say that she rarely, if ever speaks, and most of her thoughts are conveyed through inner monologue. Takami is a kind and generous young woman, who has a habit of acting rather cutesy in most situations, often acting in a cute and adorable manner, which supplements the absolute confidence in herself and her self-sufficiency. She allows nothing to get in her way if she wants something—to the point of actually losing her temper at people and throwing fits; though even though she is immediately apologetic afterwards, she tends to lapse into these habits again and again. Other than that, Takami enjoys hanging around other people with similar interests, noting that people who are not are "not on the same wavelength" as her, leading to her viewing most people as inanimate objects. It is noted that because of this attitude towards other people, she can be seen as rather 'alien' and a strange girl. However, she seems to ignore these words, and focuses on making friends with 'real people'. However, deep down, her personality enables her to face difficulty with cheerfulness, and does have strong feelings about being useful to those she actually does consider friends; and due to being skilled, she does try her best to help each and every single injured individual that she can—which more often than not, leads her into trouble; but she tends to ignore the implications of helping everyone—as she will provide aid, whether ally or enemy. Others have stated that this gives her a slightly motherly air, which she is embarrassed about. History Synopsis Equipment Minazuki (皆尽, Everything Comes to an End): The weapon has a thick, gray colored sheath with a sharp edge, similar to an oversized cleaver. Although serving as a sheath, it does possess a cutting edge and can be used effectively as a weapon. When unsheathed, it appears to be a dark gray katana and is equally as effective, if not more, than its sheath. The essence of both is that they fit together as one but come out to be two, so that they are compact for easier carrying. When in sheathed form, it is held by the hilt, but when the two components separate, the sheath is held by a small rectangular hole near the bottom. The katana also has a pistol built into its guard, which can be used to fire at point blank range. In pistol form, the weapon resembles a kama, with the gun barrel pointed in the opposite direction of the sharp end. By custom choice, Takami wraps a black ribbon tied to her right arm around the weapon's trigger in pistol form and freely swings it around. This form is similar to that of the Kama and Chain (kusarigama). Powers and Abilities Physical Abilities Master Weapon User: Takami exhibits a high level of skill when handling Minazuki. She can slash away at opponents with startling speed and deflect projectiles off of her blade. Even when sheathed, Takami's weapon is deadly, as she is able to slice her opponents in two with just the cleaver like cover. However, when she unsheathes her sword, she becomes even deadlier, using both the katana and sheath in tandem to demolish her opponents. Takami can change the form of the blade into a gun-blade which is attached to an extending ribbon which she uses with deadly accuracy (similar to the Japanese kusarigama, sickle-and-chain). Takami can slice multiple enemies with Minazuki from the ground or in the air through a whirling attack. She can grapple other opponents or objects from medium range, bringing them into melee distance. On top of that, Takami can fire the pistol while it swings on the ribbon. Takami uses the recoil from the pistol shots to further increase Minazuki's velocity. She also uses the momentum of the weapon on the ribbon as an anchor to maneuver herself in midair. *'Gaito Retsugadan' (鎧戸裂牙断, Slashing Armored Fangs of Fury): Placing the sheathed sword upright and listening to the "breath" of her opponent, Takami rapidly unsheathes, attacks, and resheathes her sword, swinging her sword in a very quick and powerful unsheathe move to slice her opponent. This attack is strong enough to easily decapitate a legendary beast like a Dragon; and it can split her opponent into two from the top down. The power of the move is such that even after cutting through iron, the attack still resulted in a powerful shockwave that cut through the floor many meters ahead of Takami; most of the time, the adversary cannot even perceive whether or not she has drawn Minazuki nor attacked. Immediately after performing the initial attack, the pistol part of her weapon will swing around and fire several bullets into the target, finishing them off. Overwhelming Speed: Takami can move at an impressive speed, and she also shows agility and endurance by fighting multiple enemies while in constant motion and staying energized. Because of her speed, Takami is able to utilize an "after image" technique in which she leaves a still image of herself behind, when she has actually already moved. It is useful for surprising or disorienting enemies. Often mistaken for teleportation due to its raw speed, Takami is able to vibrate her molecules to an extent, and then simply move from a location faster than the eye can calculate, leaving only a streak of black behind her. Utilizing her own formulas and methods she can create solid afterimage clones in her location, attack and then return to the same location, leaving her opponents confused as to how they were harmed when she had only flinched. She is able to exist in multiple places at once, using her own vibrations to superposition herself, and in doing so she surpasses the clones made by the speed of other speed-based fighters. High Strength: Takami possesses phenomenal strength and superior hand-eye coordination, and can break free from almost any attack that binds her and prevents her from moving. She is strong enough to break an enormous tree; and she can upturn huge portions of rock floor with a single strike at the ground with her sword. Takami also has enough power to break diamond with her bare hands, and break through steel; and she can thrust an S-Class mage opponent into a wall several kilometers away in one strike; and later on, shove a foe through two buildings with a simple flick of her finger upon the foe's arm to push him back. Dark Force Dark Force: Dark Force is a result of the Darkness Symbiote. Dark Force allows Takami to manipulate and control destructive dark energy. This energy has a physical form used for destroying objects, blocking enemies' attacks and picking up things. Takami typically shapes her attacks into the form of ghostly apparitions, which they can use in various attacks such as tornadoes and pillars. Ghosts can even be used to strangle enemies. Because of the very malicious nature of this energy, it is known to make people physically ill and cold. Takami is able to alter the form and the nature of the Dark Force, enhancing her natural abilities in order to attack opponents. The darkness and shadows generated by this ability cannot be penetrated by light and sometimes not other energies either. The shadows either be complete, effectively rendering useless all light sources within the area, or hollow to allow the interior to be lit. She can also solidify these fields, to use as a more direct weapon. Takami has the power to create darkness 100 times darker than a moonless night. Her black shadows are impenetrable by light. Takami can project protective shadows around persons she cannot see and are elsewhere in a city. She can blanket a small auditorium in darkness within a several seconds. The darkness she projects does not fill a volume instantly: it is possible to see its hazy boundary move like thick, black smoke in the air. There appears to be no limit to the length of time Takami can maintain the darkness. She has control over the darkness so as to create hazy-edged, featureless black shapes with it, the complexity of which is limited only by her imagination. She frequently forms the darkness into her own shadow in order to serve as a decoy. For example, she is capable of creating an armor of darkness around herself to either enhance her physical abilities or for a strong defense. The usage of darkness magic is not only limited to battle, however. Using this ability Takami can also gather clumps of darkness beneath her feet in order to form a platform, using this to access a high airspace or use as a means of travel. *'Dark Capriccio' (常闇奇想曲 Tokoyami Kisōkyoku): A beam of darkness is fired from Takami's hands, meant to be used as a drilling offensive attack that can pierce through defenses. Takami is able to manipulate its movement with one hand, cast more than one beam at a time and even use it as a whip. When casted, dark energy with horror-stricken faces swirls around Takami's hands, becoming more and more condensed. Takami can then fire the gathered energy on a wide scale or focused at an enemy. "Capriccio" refers to a music style which is free in form. *'Kijomori' (鬼女明星, Devil's Protector): This unique technique brings a gigantic gashadokuro. The gashadokuro is completely encased in darkness, and is mostly composed of bone with incomplete muscle structure appearing within the right ribcage and on the right arm of the giant skeleton. In addition to the increased defense, the giant skeleton can also be utilized for combat. When used for combat, the giant mirrors any movements Takami may make, with Takami controlling it from within like a puppet. The giant's strength is proportionate to its size, and the gashadokuro is very durable, capable of withstanding large damage. The amount of power used is great enough to tax Takami greatly, and once used cannot be used again for three days. Because of this limitation, Takami uses this only for the strongest of her adversaries. *'Kagenui '(影縫い, Shadow Stitching): This is a special skill that utilizes materialised shadows to attack and bind, instead. With it, Takami changes the shape of her shadow into several sharp blades and controls each separately. She can then attack several targets simultaneously and at the same time snatch away their ability to move by sewing them stuck with the shadow threads. Because it is a physical attack, it is impossible to capture someone without harming them, but on the other hand, since the speed of invocation and the time of duration are excellent, it can be used when urgent restraint is required. This technique is usually used to go through the target and capture them, but depending on the opponent, it can also be used as an attack to bring them down. This special characteristic finds its greatest effect when used as logistical support. After this technique hits someone, they are left at Takami's mercy, placing the target of the attack in a hypnotized state, creating the illusion that they cannot move. Kagenui is a technique said to have been used by ninja in medieval Japan. The technique involves "stitching" the target's shadow into the ground using shuriken or kunai, fixing the target to the spot. *'Shadow-Sight': She has shadow-sensitive eyes that give her the ability to see in darkness. She can draw strength from the slightest shadow or dark corner. She can also build up her power by wrapping her face in the folds of her cape and shielding her eyes from glare. As she expands her shadow nearer to light sources the pressure becomes greater, her mind feeling like it's on fire. This ability also enables her to "see" even through her own mantle of darkness. This mystical sense gives her psychic impressions of her environment within a radius of about 100 feet of her, and she can receive non-visual sensory impressions through solid objects. Thus, she can perceive people and objects in the room next to her with the ease that she can perceive the contents of the room she is in. *'Darkness Teleportation': Takami can also employ the Dark Force to teleport herself and up to three others. She does this by fading into shadows and traversing a distance and reemerging in any place that she wishes. She has so far been able to travel a maximum distance of about .85 miles (4,480 feet) in this way. Due to being faded into shadows, it disorients her sense of direction, and the light of the earth blinds her for several seconds upon reemergence) teleportation is a rather risky proposition. It also takes her several seconds to fade into shadows, preventing Takami from moving out of the way of such high-velocity danger as a bullet. With this, Takami can move at speeds up to 120 miles per hour, the maximum velocity at which she is still able to breathe. Trivia